In the Season 5 finale of Teen Wolf, “Apotheosis,” we learn that Teen Wolf was holding out on us all season long. Apparently there’s nothing quite so rewarding for a writer as deceiving your audience. Despite their trickery, “Apotheosis” brought everything together and managed to kill off some of the villains we hated, as well as the villains we actually liked. There’s a lot going on in this season finale, with the Beast being hunted, the Surgeon getting unmasked, Malia having a showdown with her mom, and Theo amping up his E.Q. (evil quotient) to well past eleven.

Escape

At the start of “Apotheosis” we find that Hellhound Parrish is still chasing Sebastien Valet, aka the Beast, aka Mason. Argent and son follow along in their car. The pike created by Marie-Jeanne Valet and her Argent husband has been reforged into a cane/ hammer/blade. And naturally, Grampy Argent has it. Was this why he was brought back this season? The Argents want Parrish to impale the Beast with the magical metal blade, but catching the Beast is not as easy as they’d hoped.

Theo and Tracy share a tender kiss. We wonder if he’ll kill her and take her power? We wouldn’t be surprised by anything Theo might do. She’s worried about Theo and suggests that they wait a couple days for Theo to heal before going after the Beast. He seems to feel things are more urgent than she does.

Tracy: “I’m not like the others. I can’t take your pain.”
Theo: “I know. And it’s okay. So you can do something else for me. You can give me your power.”

Then he kills her and takes her power. So … we must have been lying before, because we’ve still ended up being pretty shocked. Deucalion shows up, and comments for dramatic flair, “And then there were none.” When is this guy going to die, already?

Dr. Deaton is at his veterinary office when Scott and Liam show up with the Surgeon of the Dread Doctors! Whaaat?! They wonder whether or not they should keep the Dread Doctor alive or torture him, or if he’s technically even alive. This would be a good time for Malia to show up and explain the value of an occasional muuuurder.

Suddenly, they all hear his voice in their heads. The Surgeon knocks everyone away with a sonic noise, escapes the office, and electrifies the outside of the building. They can’t run after the Dread Doctor, which is good because they seem quite powerless against him when he’s conscious.

Confrontation

Once the Surgeon makes it outside, he finds himself face to face with Sebastien Valet. The Doctor’s mask is removed and we see it’s Marcel-Sebastien’s very, very, very, old friend and former Nazi.

Sebastien: “Marcel, if this is what immortality looks like, I think you might have been misled.”
The Surgeon/Marcel: “For you. All for you.”
Sebastien: “What did you do with it, Marcel? Where is the pike?”
The Surgeon/Marcel: “The Argents.”

That’s about it for Marcel aka the Surgeon, and he collapses. We can only assume he dies, but who the hell knows with these Dread Doctors.

Malia and her mother, the Desert Wolf, are still trapped together in a house. Malia is going to call Stiles for help, but stops herself when her mother taunts her: “Bring all your friends if you want. Go ahead, Malia. You tell me how many people I’m going to have to kill tonight.” Malia starts to come down the stairs and Braden yells at her to stay where she is. Amongst the many villains in Teen Wolf this season, the Desert Wolf is clearly the least likable. She manages to be both evil and boring all at the same time.

Dr. Deaton believes that Mason’s DNA is still within Sebastien, at least metaphorically. We’re not sure how someone can exist metaphorically, but Dr. Deaton explains that life is energy: “Somewhere in Sebastien he has to still exist in some form—a spark of energy, flicker of energy.” Based on the lore that calling a werewolf by his true name will turn it back into a human, they decide that Lydia can use Mason’s name to bring him back. Seems like a lot of leaps in logic to us, but let’s go with it.

Sebastien makes his way to the police station and begins asking about the Argents. A text from Stiles tells Sheriff Stilinski the true identity of the handsome Frenchman who is politely inquiring about Beacon Hills’ most prominent hunter family. Sebastien quickly realizes that the Sheriff knows he’s the Beast, and uses that to threaten him into not taking any action. When Sebastien warns that their weapons will be useless against him, Sheriff Stilinski responds, “I’m pretty sure a 9mm Beretta will do more damage than a 18th-century musket.” Stilinski is one tough dude, but he decides to let Sebastien walk away. The intense scene between these two skilled actors may be the highlight of the episode.
As Sebastien heads towards the door, Deputy Clarke decides this will be the one time she disobeys her superior’s orders and begins shooting. The other officers join in, but it doesn’t have the desired effect of killing Sebastien; instead it merely irritates him.

Moments after the shootout, Hayden and Lydia arrive at the station. Sebastien heads right for Lydia, grabbing her neck. Before he can release the death blow, Lydia lets out a banshee scream that knocks Sebastian into the wall. Blood pours out of Lydia’s neck as she falls to her knees. Sebastien is immediately on his feet and sees Hayden, recognizing her from Mason’s memories. He charges her with his terrible claws outstretched.

Sebastien makes Hayden bring him to The Beast vs. Hellhound painting the Dread Doctors uncovered. She finds Tracy lying on the floor dead, as well as a needleful of her paralyzing kanima poison, which she picks up surreptitiously. Sebastien knows that the Argents will try to give the pike to Hellhound Parrish. Hayden makes a brave attempt to inject him with the poison, but he’s too fast and disarms her. He sticks his claws right into her gut, asking, “When did the young people become so confident?” Damn millennials.

Before Sebastien can finish Hayden off he’s distracted by something shiny. Well, it’s actually the Argents, using a beacon to draw Sebastien to them. He’s not the only one to be alerted to the beacon, as Theo and Deucalion hear it from the dank basement tunnels they so love to frequent. When Deucalion tells Theo he’ll have to be at full strength to face the Beast, Theo tests his powers on the alpha. Deucalion tells Theo that his willingness to betray anyone may be his downfall someday. Let’s hope so.

Standoff

The Desert Wolf tells her daughter, “I’m not going to stop, Malia. I’m taking back what you stole from me.” For some reason Malia starts coming down the stairs and a shootout commences, resulting in Braeden getting shot, and Malia and her mom standing on opposite sides of a wall. It’d be good if Malia had a gun too, but she seems to be relying on her werecoyote instincts.

Sheriff Stilinski rushes the bleeding Lydia to the hospital. Stiles comes to see Lydia in the hospital, where she lies with a bandaged neck. He tells her that she is the solution that can save them. No pressure or anything.

Sebastien follows the beacon left by the Argents to where Parrish and Chris Argent wait. Parrish has heard about Lydia being hurt and his confidence seems to have wanted. Chris Argent gives him a pep talk, though, and he lights up à la hellhound.

At the hospital, Scott tells Liam that Lydia is okay, but can’t talk. Liam is worried that he’s lost his BFF Mason forever. Us too—well, maybe a little worried. Scott listens to the messages from his goofy girlfriend Kira, providing him with his own pep talk, which inspires him to take action. He convinces his mother to break hospital regulations and give Lydia a cortisone shot to reduce the swelling in her throat. The shot is intended for her already-bloodied neck, which leads to a fainting episode by Liam. Scott and Liam take the injured Lydia to face the Beast, while Scott tells Stiles to bring something he calls “Plan A” to Malia.

Stiles opens the door to Malia’s house only to find himself face to face with the Desert Wolf. Malia intervenes before her mother can kill Stiles, knocking her gun away. Malia and the Desert Wolf begin to fight hand to hand.

The Argents have lured the Beast into a fight with Hellhound Parrish, but it’s not going as well as they’d hoped.

Liam and Scott are taking Lydia into the tunnels, but Theo has set an electricity trap for them. He throws Lydia down into a sub-basement room and paralyzes Scott with the kanima traits he stole from chimera Tracy. Theo leaves the three and faces Sebastien on his own.

Sebastien: “Another arrogant youth. A contender to steal my name. You think you can take it from me?”
Theo: “I just want your power.”

Theo tries to use his Kanima paralytic powers, but when Sebastien turns into the Beast and throws him off, Theo realizes his stolen powers are useless. He transforms back into Sebastien and walks away, leaving Theo in his shame.

Deucalion walks up to Theo, followed by Scott and Liam. Theo realizes that Deucalion has been working with Scott this entire time. Are we supposed to think Deucalion is a reformed bad boy? We don’t. We still think he’s a very unlikable villain. When Theo asks if his ploy to take the Beast’s power would’ve ever worked, Deucalion tells him he only could’ve taken the Beast’s power using the claws that he’d earlier convinced Theo wouldn’t work. Seems like Deucalion and Scott had an unnecessarily complicated plan.

Deucalion leans down and breaks Theo’s neck. Before Deucalion can leave, Grampy Argent comes along and shoots him. At least Grampy Argent can recognize a villain when he sees one. And it seems Chris Argent can as well, because he tells his father, “I knew when I brought you back it would never be about saving lives, only about immortalizing your own,” and pulls a gun on Grampy Argent. Mr. Argent throws Scott the hammer/blade and tells Scott to go.

Attack

Malia is getting the crap beat out of her by the Desert Wolf. Stiles, who lies on the floor with a big piece of glass in his chest, throws Malia the jar that Scott told him to deliver. The Desert Wolf pushes her daughter up against the wall and sticks her claws in, telling Malia that she wants her power back. Malia puts on the blue claws that were in the jar and sticks them into her mother, responding, “I want my family back.” The supernatural light goes out of the Desert Wolf’s eyes and she falls back. Braeden conks her on the head for good measure. Stiles asks, “Can someone please come and take this gigantic shard of glass out of my chest, please?”

Liam and Scott look for the Beast. Liam offers to be the one to kill the Beast aka Sebastien aka Mason, but Scott tells him, “We’re not killing your best friend.” Sebastien arrives on cue, asking for the blade. He tells Scott it’s a family heirloom. Scott tells him to come and get it.

Meanwhile, Lydia is still trapped in the sub-basement. Kira arrives and breaks Lydia out of her prison, telling her friend, “Sorry I’m late.” Better late than never, that’s what we say.

Liam and Scott attempt to fight the Beast, but he is far too powerful. Sebastien begins to strangle Scott, and Liam takes out the blade.

Scott: “Liam, wait! We can still save Mason.”
Liam: “Well, who’s going to save you?”

Despite Scott’s cry not to attack Sebastien aka Mason, Liam runs forward with the blade. Sebastien swats Liam away like nothing, then puts his claws into Scott’s neck. When he does, he accesses Scott’s memories and sees images of Allison. Seeing a young woman who looks so like his sister Marie-Jeanne, Sebastien is momentarily stunned and loosens his grip on Scott. Scott backs away just as Kira and Lydia round the corner.

Lydia weakly calls Mason’s name, with no effect. Kira tells her she’s going to need to do it louder. As the Beast advances on her, Lydia lets out a banshee scream of “Mason!!!” Mason walks out of the smokiness that is the Beast, and falls into the arms of chameleon Corey who has been hiding in the tunnel.

What’s left of the Beast whizzes around like a roman candle until Hellhound Parrish grabs the smoky creature. Holding what’s left of the Beast, Parrish yells to Scott. Scott throws the magic blade into the Beast, and the smoky remains disappear.

When Scott asks if everyone’s all right, Theo yells, “Not everyone!” Theo attacks with his electrical powers, but Kira stops his attack with her sword. She tells Theo, “The Skinwalkers have a message for you, Theo. Your sister wants to see you.” Kira punches her sword into the ground and the electrical pulses open a pit next to Theo, from which Theo’s dead sister emerges. Despite his pleas to Scott for help, Theo is dragged by the girl into what we can only assume is a place much worse than the Clinic of Horrors.

Consequences

The mortally wounded Hayden is treated by Dr. Deaton, but there’s not much more he can do for her. Scott agrees to give her the bite. It’s not clear what’s different this time, except that they’ve already experienced Hayden’s death. Hayden survives the bite, reuniting with Liam after she recovers.

Stiles sits with his father at the station, looking serious. Stiles is still grappling with his guilt over the death of wendigo chimera Donovan. Being a part of saving lives helped him feel better for a while. When Stiles acknowledges he’d like to feel that way again, his dad tells him, “Welcome to your future career in law enforcement.”

While Kira returns to training with the skinwalkers, the rest of the gang returns to school. Stiles tells Lydia how the memories of Allison helped to save Scott, while Scott looks at their initials on the library bookshelf. Then Lydia, Scott, and Stiles sit down at a library table to study. You’d think these three would avoid the library and its bad memories, but they do have a lot of studying to do if they hope to graduate.

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In “Apotheosis,” Teen Wolf gave us some surprises, including the power of #TeamScott. Scott has secretly been working with Deucalion, who spent half the season tricking both Theo and the audience. It also turns out that Chris Argent realized how creepy his father was right from the start of Season 5B. The story could have been a little tighter if they hadn’t brought in all these extra villainous characters, but at least we have some closure.

It turns out that Lydia and Kira were right—it took all of the pack working together to defeat the Beast. Liam got a weird form of redemption after trying to kill Scott by being willing to sacrifice his BFF to save his alpha. To Scott’s credit, he was never on board with the plan, and they managed to save Mason. It’s good to see everyone getting along again.

Now that “Apotheosis” is over, questions about Teen Wolf abound. What will happen to Hellhound Parrish now that he has fulfilled his destiny and defeated the Beast? Will he find himself a Wild Hunt to join, or stick around Beacon Hills waiting for Lydia to graduate (she’s in high school, dude!) Will #Stydia will become a thing? What happens after senior year and the Maze Runner movies? We can’t wait to see what Teen Wolf brings us in Season 6 in June 2016.